ghostbustersfandomcom-20200222-history
Peter Venkman
"Back off man; I'm a scientist." - ''Peter Venkman; Ghostbusters'' Dr. Peter Venkman is one of the original Ghostbusters. He has doctorates in both psychology and parapsychology. He appears in all major forms of Ghostbusters Franchise, however like Peter and Winston was a guest on Extreme Ghostbusters. Personality Peter is portrayed as the "lazy" Ghostbuster. He doesn't usually take his work seriously, is very sarcastic and flirts with women, including clients such as Dana Barrett and Ilyssa Selwyn. While Peter is a scientist, he isn't as experienced or academically inclined as Egon and Ray, and also tends to be more aggressive when fighting ghosts. Peter also slacks off on experiments and usually focuses on the women, as in the first movie he is testing sixth senses and shocks the boy in the experiment for getting the answers wrong (even though he was really getting a majority of them right) and leaves the girl alone (even though nearly all her answers were wrong). Peter is also a very outspoken person, as he back talked to the representative of the EPA(Walter Peck), and got him angry about the storage facility. This as a result led to the containment unit being shut down and all the ghosts escaping over New York. His fast talking, however, "bargained" the percentage from the broker they consulted in mortgaging Ray's house (in order to lease the firehouse), as well getting their first payday of $5,000 made busting Slimer. Work at the University While he was employed by the University, Dr. Venkman was not very interested in the paranormal research that Dr. Spengler and Dr. Stantz were concerned with. He was a scientist by trade, but didn't seem to identify himself as a scientist(unless he's trying to impress someone.) His experimental methodology was highly criticized by Dean Yager, who told him in no uncertain terms that he was a "poor scientist." He admitted in the novelization of Ghostbusters II even his high school grad class voted him "Most Likely to Become A Game Show Host". While at the university, Ray and Pete often shared the same bottle of apricot brandy in private and usually borrowed each others' videocassettes when documenting their findings for research. History Ghostbusters Peter Venkman was a professor working with Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz at the Columbia University. The three of them were researching the supernatural but unlike his partners, Peter wasn't as enthusiastic about the topic. The three of them discovered the librarian ghost, but were unable to catch and show her off to the public. The three of them were soon fired from the university after their funding was cut; though Peter seemed happy to look for new opportunities whatever they may be. After being fired, the three of them decided to build some advanced paranormal equipment and go into a career of freelance ghost catching. Peter encouraged and prodded Ray to mortgage his house in order to find the capital needed to purchase the firehouse. Whether motivated by the prospect of becoming rich or just the fact that he no longer had to work under the thumb of the board of regents, Dr. Venkman was very motivated to begin a new career. Peter soon became the first to meet the company's first client, Dana Barrett and formed a romantic interest. Dana had claimed that there were monsters in her fridge even though Peter could not find any such thing. After that incident, Peter, Egon, and Ray were eating dinner at the firehouse when their secretary Janine got a call. Peter and his team came to the Sedgewick Hotel, where Peter came face to face with the ghost that would one day become known as Slimer. Peter was slimed during his first encounter with the ghost, which Ray greatly praised as "actual physical contact." Peter and his team eventually captured the ghost, which soon made them popular and busy around town with other ghosts. Peter soon met an EPA representative named Walter Peck, who got angry that Peter refused to show him the storage facility. Peter soon formed a relationship with Dana, but it was soon interrupted when Dana started acting very strangely. Peter soon learned from Egon that her building was renovated by an evil architect named Ivo Shandor and she was being possessed by Zuul, the Gatekeeper of Gozer. After Peck returned and shut down the containment unit, the ghosts all escaped, Peter and the other Ghostbusters were imprisoned for EPA violations. Peter convinced the mayor that an apocalypse of "Biblical proportions," was coming to destroy the city. The Ghostbusters were released and proceeded to go to the top of Dana's building. They are soon escorted to the building by a police and army motorcade as a dark cloud starts to cover the entire city. The Ghostbusters make it to the top of the building, but are too late to stop Zuul and Vince Clortho from releasing the evil Gozer. The Ghostbusters confront Gozer in the form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man(which Ray had been thinking of). Peter and his team then cross their streams and force the door to Gozer's dimension to close, destroying the Marshmallow Man in a blaze of flames and saving the city. Ghostbusters II ]]Despite saving the town from Gozer, the Ghostbusters were put out of business due to being sued for all the damage that was done during the battle. In the years since, Peter was described by Egon as being borderline(manic) until he eventually, "crossed the border." Peter became the host of a psychic reality talk show in the years after the Gozer battle. He and his teammates went to Dana's aid after she claimed her baby stroller rolled away from her by itself, and pinpointed there was "something brewing under the street," of First Avenue. Egon, Peter, and Ray start to dig under the surface of the road where Ray is lowered down into the hole where he discovers a river of slime. The three Ghostbusters were summoned to court, where they stand trial on the grounds of violating a restraining order and destroying a section of First Avenue. They got back into business after the slime sample in the courtroom absorbed the judge's negative energy while shouting and exploded out two ghosts named the Scoleri brothers. After the judge rescinded the order and dismissed the case(while under duress from the ghosts), the Ghostbusters were allowed to put on their equipment and bust the ghosts, declaring to the public afterwards that they were open for business once again. While his teammates investigate the river of slime underneath the city, Peter renewed his relationship with Dana, whose baby was being targeted by the ghost of Vigo the Carpathian. Peter and his team in the end defeated Vigo and saved the city once again. Even when paralyzed, Peter's tongue was still as sharp as ever and he still managed to provoke Vigo's ire with a variety of pointed insults, including referring to him as a "dumb blonde". Ghostbusters: The Video Game ]] Venkman shows some initial distrust when Ray and Egon hire the Rookie, jealous that he gets issued new equipment and gets a 'title'. However, upon Egon explaining to Peter that the equipment the Rookie is issued is "highly experimental, and if not handled properly, could blow the user clear into New Jersey." Peter immediately lost interest in both the Rookie and his gear. Peter eventually warms up to the Rookie, and occasionally praises his developing skills, but his interest is soon lost once they encountered Ilyssa Selwyn who, true to himself, he took an instant liking to. He flirted with her, but she wasn't interested. At the end, he won her heart and shared a brief kiss with Ilyssa before she was slimed by Slimer. Peter still maintains the smooth-talking slacker identity from the previous two movies, willing to jump at any chance to get out of doing work or going into a dangerous situation. Trying to disguise his overtures at Ilyssa as business in the line of duty. He offers to take Marine Ecto-8 to avoid going onto Shandor Island. These attempts are transparent at best, prompting the other Ghostbusters to roll their eyes or glare at him. Peter is still primarily motivated in his own best interests. He can be goaded into expending effort if an attractive female or a lucrative payoff is involved. But in the end he will still come around to doing the right thing when it's really important. Peter Venkman from the Animated Series After the fall of Gozer, Peter and the other Ghostbusters fixed up the firehouse after it was severely damaged by the escaping ghosts. Upon the completion of the firehouse, the Ghostbusters adopted the green ghost who had slimed Peter (now known as Slimer) as a pet mascot. Though Peter at first wouldn't forgive the little ghost for their encounter at the hotel, he soon grew to love him like the rest of the Ghostbusters. For more information of the animated version of this character go to the animated article. Trivia * Bill Murray is rumored to have ad-libbed his dialog heavily. * This is also one of the films often cited as Murray's best comedic performance. * Murray refused to perform in any trilogies of any film, one of several reasons why Ghostbusters 3 was never made. *Bill Murray played Peter Venkman in the live Ghostbusters films while Lorenzo Music played Peter Venkman in the animated series. Music also played the famous Garfield in the Garfield animated series, while Murray played Garfield in the live action films. * According to the novelization, Peter put himself through college working as a Barker at Coney Island. This is where he honed his skill in fast talking. * Peter has degrees in Parapsychology and psychology. Peter makes more use out of his Psychology degree as evidenced by the ease with which he can smooth talk people towards his own ends. If Ray is the heart of the Ghostbusters, Peter is the mouth. * Peter seems to regard his status as a doctor and scientist primarily as something to flaunt and impress people with. Some are fairly skeptical about it due to his decidedly unprofessional demeanor. Dana in particular said he was more like a game show host than a scientist. Peter himself regards other scientists as usually being pretty stiff. * Peter's line, "Back off, man! I'm a scientist," became a popular slogan after the movie was released. Later it was changed (for children's t-shirts and other memorabilia) to, "I'm a (Real) Ghostbuster." * Peter Griffin, television patriarch to the animated series "Family Guy" wears Venkman's uniform with "Peter" on the nametag. He gag references Dana Barrett/Zuul in the cut away scene to 2007's "Road to Rupert". * Venkman was originally intended to be played by Dan Aykroyd's friend, John Belushi, with whom Aykroyd worked on The Blues Brothers. However, Belushi died of a drug overdose before the film's pre-production. Slimer was described by Aykroyd as "The Ghost of John Belushi". * His character model in the Ghostbusters: Video Game struts when walking while the other Ghostbusters including the rookie simpley walk. * Peter has been slimed by Slimer two times. In the first Ghostbusters and the videogame. Gallery Image:Gbhq4.jpg image18.jpg 63.jpg 17.jpg lf6c45f110f0ec7e4412da7rm9.jpg gb1japanesestorybook021fv8.png ghostbustersstarburstukgb9.png ghostbusters_502.jpg tumblr_kpp1sdFIOp1qzexpio1_500.jpg l_77f960d77e6e40b777a121db2253e7ca.jpg Category: Major character Category:Ghostbusters: TVG Characters Category:Ghostbusters Movie Characters Category:Ghostbusters II Characters